Vehicles are typically equipped with one or more controllers or control devices that are linked by at least one network or bus structure. It is common for a vehicle to have numerous electronic control units (ECUs) for various subsystems. The various ECUs may be provided by different suppliers, utilize different processors and have different memory structures. A supplier of ECUs may supply a common ECU architecture to numerous original equipment manufactures (OEM), which may utilize standard protocols and data structures, proprietary protocols and data structures or combinations thereof.
The Universal Measurement and Calibration Protocol (XCP) standard defines a bus-independent communication protocol to connect ECUs with calibration systems regardless of the network protocol or the ECU configuration. The primary purpose of XCP is to adjust internal parameters and acquire the current values of internal variables of an ECU for calibration, diagnostic and other similar purposes. The first letter X in XCP expresses the fact that the protocol is designed for a variety of bus systems. The standard consists of a base standard, which describes memory-oriented protocol services without direct dependencies on specific bus systems. Several associated standards contain the transport layer definitions allowing adaptation of XCP to controller area network (CAN), FlexRay, Ethernet (UDP/IP and TCP/IP), USB among other network standards.
XCP may be used to access the structure and memory of an ECU. Because of this capability, the protocol can be used to acquire access to one or more ECUs within a vehicle. This access may include the ECU's memory management unit and the ECU's memory write or read capability. To limit this access, on a distributed basis each ECU may implement a mechanism to restrict XCP access and usage.
An ECU may be modified, non-standard or ancillary or an ECU or processor coupled to the communication bus after manufacture and delivery of the vehicle. Such a modified, non-standard or added ECU may not incorporate controls and limitations to XCP ECU access. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a communication network and a method of communicating data via a network that provide on a network basis XCP identification, and as appropriate, limitations on XCP usage. It is further desirable to provide vehicles incorporating such protocols and methods. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present disclosure will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.